Sand-blast cleaning method and apparatus therefor



` Aug. 19, 1924. 1.505.484

H. A. MULVANY 'ET A1;

SAND BLAST CLEANING METHOD AD'APPARATUS THEREFOR Filed Aug. 29. 1,921

A TTORNE Y l 30 ther, the cleaning of eggs by such methods leaves adistinct shine or gloss lforeign to an' sanftes Aug. 1a, 1924.

PATENT oFrlcE.

"' '1:' 1* A. MUL'V'ANY ANI) HARRY E. KENNEDY, OF BERKEIEY, CALIFORNIA.

SAND-BLAST CLEANING METHOD AND APPARATUS THEREFOB.

Application led August 29, 1.921. Serial No. 496,408.

and HARRY E. KENNEDY, citizens of the' United States, residing atBerkeley, in the county of Alameda and Sta-te of California,

have invented new and useful Im rovements in Sand-Blast Cleaning Metho sand Apparatus Therefor, of which thcroll'ow-y ing is a specification.

This invention relates articularl to a method and apparatus or dryceaning eggs, -but is'a plicable, as 'will laterfbe described, to ot erarticles, food products, eter o l n ,Y

The market value of eggs is'very seriously customaryl in the past rtoremove these blemishes by wiping the eggs with a. clamp cloth,`

washing them, etc. In most instances hand operation has been resortedto, butin some instances'mechan'ical washers, etc.` have been employedfor the purpose of duplicating handvoperation'. However, a decidedhandi# cap attaches to any method which 'involves wetting or washing theeggs. This is due to the fact that an egg oncedampened can not bcpreserved, but must be disposed of within a comparatively short period.Furuntreated egg and is considered by the trade v as undesirable.

It should be clear from the foregoing that a method of cleaning eggswhich does not yinvolve, any of the above objections, and which willpermitl the handling of eggs in large quantities will represent adistinct ad-v Vance inthe state of the art, particularly' when it isconsidered that ymoi'stening or wetting of the eggs is entirely avoided,

The presentinvention involves a method of dry cleaning; this vbeingaccomplished h resorting to the use of a iinely` divided a r asiveprojected against'the shells or eggs `by means of an air blast. In otherwords an abrasivesuch as sand or the like having an errosive action isemployed and projected against the' eggs by. meansof an air blast,

and means ,for passing the eggs' through the blast and for turning thesaine while subjected tov the blast so .as toA expose all surv faces isalso employed.

jv Another, feature of the invention is the. provision of an apparatuswhereby a large rpartially in section.

F.I1`igi2 is a cross section on line 2-2,

ig. 3 is an enlarged detail cross sectional 6 view of the conveyor`chain and the roller y supported thereby.

Referring to the drawings in detail, A indicates a main frame, at eachend of which is journalled a pair jof superposed shafts'7 as indicatedat 2, 3, 4 and '5. Secured on each end of the respective shafts aresprocket wheels 6, and supported 4by each set of aligneds `rockets is apair of endless sprocket chains il; power to drive they shafts, 7 thesprockets andchains inunison* being supplied yfrom any suitablesourceand is transmitted thereto by means of'a belt and pulley as indicated at8.

By referring to Fig'. 3,'it'will be seen that 8 the links of the chains7 are pivotally connectcd by sleevelike pins 9, and that a shaftYextends through each pair of aligned sleeves yas indicated at 10.l Theshafts'extend between the `chains 'and connect thesame, and 85 they are-so interspaced that the .eggs may lbe deposited thereupon and vrotatedthereby as will hereinafter be described. The shafts are freelytur'nable' in the sleeves 9, and

thereto while the eggsjare subjected to a sand blast is provided,` saidmeans comprising rubber covered rollers secured at each end of eachshaft 'as shown .at 11, and

'means `for imparting a rotating movement 90 a pair of track members 12disposed below 95 the rollers 'as shown in Figs. 1, 2 andl 3.

For the purpose offinsuring rotation of the e s so as to expose allsurfaces to the sand dest and to prevent breakage of the eggs, a rubbercovering consisting of a tube l0() 13 is placed Aupon each 'rod or'shaft 10. This covering 1s of further importance as rubber will resistthe errosive action of the sand or abrasive employed, whilel the rods ifuncovered would raplidly wear away. l

, Dislposed between t e upper sets of sproc et. wheels, secured on theshafts 2 and 4' and belowthe'chain or' conveyor passing over' the same;is a liopper'shaped pan 14. Mountedbelowthe'pan is an air 110.'

supplying pipe 15 which is connected with a suitable source of airsupply under pressure such as a high pressure blower or rotarycompressor not here shown, and dis- 'posed on each side of the pan in aseries of air nozzles such as indicated at 16 and 17. The nozzles aresubstantially U-shape in form and are connected at their lower ends withthe pipe 15 and the bottom of the pan 14. This connect-ion is formed bypipes 18 and 19. The pipes 19 communicate with the bottom of the pan,while the pipes 18 com- Inunicate with the main air supply pipe 15 andthe respective nozzles 16 and 17; the

pipes 18 connecting with the nozzle 17 disposed-on one side of the pan,and pipes 18a with the nozzle 16 disposed on the opposite side of thepan; pipes 18 and 18a being all supplied with valves 20, whereby thevolume of air delivered to the nozzles 16 and 17 may be regulated.

In actual operation it will be seen that the sprocket chalns 7, togetherwith the rods connecting the same, form an endless open conveyor uponwhich the eggs to be` cleaned are deposited. They are placed on one endof the conveyor or that indicated' at 25 by hand or any other suitablemeans, and as the width or distance between the chains is considerable,it is obvious that any suitable number of eggs may be placed betweeneach set of rods as the conveyor is slowly moving. No turning movementtakes place as far as the rubber covered rods 10 are concerned .whenythe eggs are placed thereon, but as the conveyor advances to a pointbelow the nozzles 17 and 16, rollers 11 will engage the track members 12and a turning movement will then be transmitted to the rods thus causingthe eggs to roll about their longitudinal axis and thus expose theirentire surface tothe action of the sand blast; the e gs beingcontinually turned until the rolers leave the opposite ends of thetracks, or at a point adjacent that from which the are discharged.During the operation o the machine, as the eggs are to be advancedbeneath the nozzles, it is obvious that air is being supplied by thepipe 15 to the several nozzles 16 and 17. These are, as. previouslydescribed, staggered to project over the conveyor alternately fromopposite sides. The eggs are for this reason subjected to a series ofsand blasts before they are finally removed. The sand or 'abrasiveemployed is 'delivered to the pan 14 in any suitable manner. It falls bygravity through the pipes 19 into the pipesA 18 and 18, respectively,and as air 1s being delivered to said plpes, it is obvious that the sandwill be picked up and projected into the nozzles 16 and 17, from "whereit`discharges through longitudinal slots 26 formed in the lower side ofeach nozzle. The'sand blast is in this manner particles of foreignmatter removed from,

the eggs or shells or eggs which may have become accidentally broken;the material thus collected being removed from the screen in anysuitable manner.

From the foregoing it can be seen that the apparatus disclosed hasalmost an unlimited capacity in so far as any number of nozzles may beemployed, and the width and the length of the conveyor is similarlyincreased,

, thus providing a treating or blasting area of such a size as to handleany outputdesired. As an example of the above, the output-from a singlemachine now in use exceeds fifteen thousand dozen eggs per eight hourday, and four men only are required; two being employed at the feedingend of the machine,

and two at `the opposite end. The eggs discharging are snow white inappearance and of a dull finish. The objection to moisten ing or wettingthe surface of the eggs has been avoided and the distinct shine'producedwhen eggs are washed is also prevented. The process is inexpensive aspractically an abrasive, such as ordinary sand may be employed. The onlypower required is that for transmitting movement to the conveyor and fordriving the compressor or blower employed. High pressure air is notrequired as in actual practice a one-half pound guage has been foundmore than suliiclent.

We wish it distinctly understoodv that the method involved may beaccomplished by the use of varying forms of apparatus, and that theapparatus here illustrated is only one form thereof which may be variedto suit conditions and requirements; further that while the method hasbeen described as applied to eggs only, it is obvious that many articlesand food products may be similarly treated. For instance walnuts whenshelled are often stained and may be successfully treated by thismethod.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secureby Letters Pattent is- 1. The method of cleaning the entire surfaceofobjects having a more or less circular periphery which consists inplacing and entirely supporting them upon devices having a substantiallycircular periphery, rotating said devices and thereby rotating thearticles and passing them while rotatin through the field of a sandblast directe substantially normal to the direction of passage of saiddevices across the sand blast.

face of objects having a more or less circular periphery which consistsin lacing and entirely supporting them upon devices having asubstantially circular periphery, rotating said devices 1n an endlesscourse which passes them while rotating through the ield of a sand blastdirected substantially normal to the Vdirection of passage of saiddevices 20 across the sand blast.

HARRY A. MULvANY. i HARRY KENNEDY.

